No. 14 West Virginia will face a stingy defense in showdown against No. 4 Texas

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Back when Taz Sherman was lighting up the junior-college ranks at Collin (Tex.) College, he said he dreamed of one day playing against the top competition and against top-notch defenses looking to shut him down.

The 14th-ranked Mountaineers may get both, as they host No. 4 Texas at 1 p.m. Saturday in the WVU Coliseum.

“In ways, they kind of play like us defensively,” Sherman said. “They don’t allow the ball to get reversed. They make you be strong with the ball. If you’re loose with the ball, they’ll pressure you and eventually turn you over or force you into a bad shot.”

The Longhorns (9-1, 3-0 Big 12) have won five straight heading into today’s game, much of it based on a defense that holds teams to just 38.3% shooting, tops in the Big 12.

Getting a good shot against the Longhorns can be tricky, just ask Indiana — the Hoosiers had just 11 field goals in a 66-44 loss — or Kansas, which made just 29 percent of its shots in falling to Texas last week.

“To a large degree, their defense is good, because of the athleticism they have,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said. “They’ve got shot-blocker after shot-blocker and shot-changer after shot-changer.

“They’re guards are good. They’ve got guards who have been in this league for quite a while and understand and they put a lot of pressure on the ball.”

Texas returned all five starters from a team that finished 19-12 last season and then Longhorns coach Shaka Smart added 6-foot-9 freshman Greg Brown, who recruiting services had ranked in the top 10 nationally.

Brown is averaging 12.0 points and 7.3 rebounds in his first season.

Texas point guard Matt Coleman III, as well as guards Courtney Ramey and Andrew Jones have combined for 220 starts over their careers.
Coleman, who averages 13.7 points and 4.6 assists per game is a four-year starter.

“The difference in their team, obviously they’ve recruited well, but the difference is the experience they have at the guard positions,” Huggins said. “Their guards are playing extremely well, very poised. They know what Shaka wants done.”

As for West Virginia, Huggins said guard Sean McNeil is still hampered some with an injured toe and that forward Derek Culver is “limping around.”

“And if you watch the games and sees what he goes through, you know why,” Huggins said.

Huggins also said two players are battling the flu, but not COVID-19. WVU players were tested Wednesday and all came up negative, Huggins said.

Making shots against the Longhorns’ defense may be the biggest challenge WVU faces.

While Texas leads the Big 12 in field-goal percentage defense, the Mountaineers (9-3, 2-2) are last in the conference in shooting, making just 41.8% of its attempts.

“They do a really good job of forcing teams to play fast,” WVU point guard Deuce McBride said. “They make teams uncomfortable. They’ve got a lot of guys that can run up and down and that’s what they want to do.

“It’s going to be our job to slow the pace down and execute. Even though we want to slow it down, we can attack them. We can run, too. It’s going to be a good game.”

TWEET @bigjax3211